Restored and Kept Safe

I made a mistake with my heart medication not long ago. Wasn’t a small one either. Took a double dose without even realizing it, the kind of thing that happens when your hands move faster than your mind. Didn’t take long before I knew something was wrong. The body has a way of telling you the truth even when you don’t want to hear it. This was one that taking a double dose was very bad and dangerous.

I called poison control, and the woman on the line didn’t waste a second. Told me to get to the emergency room, and get there fast, the closest one. I was transported within a few minutes. They were waiting on me when I was brought through the doors. Most saw the first image when I arrived, but I saw image two, and before long I was in the ICU, wired up and watched over, spending the night in a hospital bed I never planned on being in.

Reflection

Mistakes don’t send you a letter first. They show up in a moment of tired hands or a distracted mind, an extra pill, a missed step, and suddenly you’re standing someplace you never meant to stand. I’ve thought about that night more than once since. How close the whole thing came to going a different way. How thin that line is between chaos and grace, and how a man can walk right up to the edge of it without ever seeing the drop.

There’s a kind of quiet that comes after you realize you’ve been spared. Not relief exactly, something older than that. A recognition that you are not out here carrying this life on your own strength. Something unseen was in that room. Something was already holding the line.

I don’t say that lightly. I’ve buried people I loved and I know mercy doesn’t always look the way we’d choose it to look. But that night, it looked like a doctor moving fast and a heart that kept beating and a morning that came anyway. Your story isn’t finished. Mine wasn’t either, not yet.

If you’ve had a night like that, a mistake that could have cost you everything and somehow didn’t, let your heart move today. Move from the shock of what almost happened to the plain, quiet warmth of what didn’t. You’re here. You’re breathing. Somebody was watching over you before you even knew you needed watching.

Scripture

“For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Psalm 91:11 (see Psalm 91)

A Prayer of Thanks

Lord, thank You for watching over me when I was careless, when I was confused, when I didn’t even know enough to be afraid yet. Thank You for the mercy that caught me before the damage was done. Forgive me my haste, and teach me to move slower through this life You’ve given me. And more than anything, thank You for this day, and for the breath I didn’t earn but got anyway. Amen.

Disclaimer

I am not giving medical advice, but sharing my experience. If you have taken too many medication call your Poison Control Center. I called 800-222-1222.  Also seek medical advice and physician care on all medical issues.

Written by Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Ed.D. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. You are welcome to share or adapt it provided proper credit is given to the author.